JOANNE (Adolphe) - Lot 195

JOANNE (Adolphe) Descriptive and Historical Itinerary of the Pyrenees from the Ocean to the Mediterranean. Containing 9 panoramas drawn from life by Victor PETIT, 6 maps and 2 city plans. Paris, Hachette, s.d. (1858). In-8: 2f., XLVIII, 684pp. 12pp. 8 plans and maps on double pages and 9 panoramas by Victor PETIT, 6 of which folding (paper browned on panoramas as usual). Contemporary fawn calf, ornate ribbed spine, red title-piece, double gilt fillet framing the boards, "Souvenirs des Pyrénées 1862" gilt on upper board, one bit rubbed, gilt fillet on edges, gilt edges. A fine copy. First edition. Panoramas by Victor PETIT. Vincent de CHAUSENQUE, SOUTRAS, LEMONNIER, the young geographer RECLUS and, of course, RAMOND provided, ante or post-mortem, material for the text. A "landmark book" wrote Beraldi. On the subject of PETIT's panoramas, here's what Beraldi says in Balaïtous et Pelvoux: "In fact, the real revelator and popularizer of Balaïtous, of this peak so visible from afar, so hidden up close, is the draughtsman-architect Victor PETIT, in his panoramas which accompanied the first Joanne of 1858. Conventional documents, but instructive, gripping, engaging, and which today, half a century on, remain young and valuable" (Labarère 767-769)(Perret 2377). Provenance: Copy from the library of Madame Lorget (gilt bookplate at foot of spine).